Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: So Maybe We Can Replace Freeman?

Elapsed time:  over 6 hours.  Game time: just over 3 hours.  Comebacks, blown saves, ejections, and emergencies… this game had it all.  And the Braves won.

You’ve gotta get up awfully early in the morning to beat these Atlanta Braves lately.

The Braves rallied twice in this game – down 2 runs, then 3, took a lead into the 9th inning, lost it, then walked it off in front of what was basically an empty stadium at nearly 2 am local time.

In fact, the lead changed 3 times after 1 am.

Gone are the bullpen performance streaks that were celebrated just yesterday, and while the headline above is in jest, Matt Adams came up big again Tuesday night… and Wednesday morning.

The best tweet of the night came early:

Yes, for the second night in a row, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was excused from further baseball activities for the rest of the night… this time from the 1st inning onward.  Little did he know that the clubhouse would be his home for the next 6 hours.

The game was actually interrupted briefly in the third inning as an emergency evacuation notice appeared on the main scoreboard, causing a stir.  Once again, Mark Bowman exhibited mid-season twitter-form:

Back to the Game…

R.A. Dickey was pretty much himself again last night, though the “Houdini” moniker would also have fit.

In 6 innings, he allowed fourteen baserunners – 11 hits and 3 walks.  Yet only 3 of them scored… partly thanks to an out-of-the-baseline call when Kurt Suzuki tried to tag Josh Bell on an nonetheless-ill-advised attempt to steal a run on a ball squibbed off of John Jaso‘s bat that ended both the first inning and Hurdle’s night.

Thanks to the knuckleball, though, Dickey’s line shows just 6 line drive vs. 13 grounders and 12 fly balls, so he wasn’t hit especially hard (a 6th inning home run by Jordy Mercer aside), though balls were consistently finding the empty grass.

After the epic-length rain delay, Sam Freeman came in hold the Pirates at bay – which he did despite giving up a two out single – the first batter in 57 plate appearances to get a hit off of a Braves’ relief pitcher… and Atlanta franchise record.

Unfortunately, more hits followed as other relievers were introduced.

Comebacks and More Comeback

While the Braves did not have a complete answer for starter Tyler Glasnow (2 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, the big blow being another Matt Adams [Big City] homer in the 6th), things changed once their bullpen became involved.

That 7th inning did see the Braves claw into the lead against Wade LeBlanc.  Singles by Ender Inciarte, Brandon Phillips, and Matt Kemp (with a passed ball and runner-advancing groundout in between) plated 2 runs for a 4-3 lead.

Arodys Vizcaino mastered the 8th inning with a 1-2-3 inning (though barely keeping Josh Harrison in the park for that 3rd out).  So we figured that Jim Johnson would do likewise to put a bow around this one.

Um…. no.

Even most pizza delivery places were closed by the time the 9th rolled around and Johnson dutifully got his first man out on a grounder to Swanson.

Then it got a bit ugly.

Singles from Josh Bell and Francisco Cervelli put the ducks on the soggy pond.  A strikeout on Jaso left us hopeful that Johnson would escape the jam, but then David Freese was walked on a full count to load the bases and Jordy Mercer singled in two runs.

So on the same play, the Pirates literally went from their last strike to the lead.  It was 5-4.

Luke Jackson was then brought in and he induced a groundout of Daniel Ortiz to end it.

So Atlanta had some work to do.

Parlay?

Okay, so it’s like 1:45 in the morning now and the bottom of the 9th inning has arrived.  The Braves were down 5-4.

Jace Peterson was up well past his bedtime and struck out.

But then Ender Inciarte singled.  A moment to pause:

Inciarte was 3 for 4 on the night and had a hit in 7 straight AB before the Pirates finally got him out… once.  So for the series, he’s now 8-for-9 with a walk. 

That’s 9-for-his-last-10 in reaching base, raising his batting average to .289 and OBP to .338 for the year after a terrible start.  Wow.

Resuming…

Brandon Phillips hit one on the button, but it resulted in a lineout to center.  Two outs.

Then Nick Markakis happened.  Double (what else from him?).  Ender scores.  Tie game.

We’re not done yet.  The Braves are never done yet.

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The Pirates opted to walk Matt Kemp to face the new juggernaut, Matt Adams.

Adams was 3 for 5 on the night with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored… so he’s 5 for 9 on the series himself with homers on back-to-back nights.

And the Cardinals couldn’t hardly find playing time for him.  Huh.

That last hit was the big one:  he singled into the LF corner, driving home Markakis and starting a fireworks show that at least didn’t wake up downtown Atlanta at 2 am… but it did wake up this Braves team and the dozen or so fans still milling about in the stands.

Luke Jackson gets hit first major league victory.  Matt Adams gets his 2nd homer as a Brave and first walk-off hit.

The team has won 8 of their last 10 and remain in 2nd place (hey, we’ll take it!), pulling within 3 games of .500.  More importantly for the short term, they crushed the Pirates after the visitors had to believe the game was theirs to lose in the 9th.

That should provide a boost of energy and confidence as both teams turn it around for another one for tonight.

Here’s the happy box score:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Next: Not Quite as Sexy as Hoped?

TONIGHT:  Let’s hope that victory rubs off on Julio Teheran as he tries to rebound at home. He is expected to face off against Trevor Williams (2-3, 6.04; last outing 5.2, 3ER, 2BB, 0K) in the third games of this 4-pack.

The over-under on Clint Hurdle innings tonight is set at 4.1.